The Logic NY Fed Court Decision to Uphold ZECs is Spurious

The US District Court of the Southern District of New York (Fed District Court) yesterday ruled through New York Southern District Judge Valerie Caproni dismissed all challenges to New York’s Zero Emissions Credit (ZEC) program

The decision by Judge Caproni, though seemingly logical, is actually spurious, in our opinion. The decision was based on the following logic and comparison:

While we do appreciate Judge Caproni’s position and interpretation of the law, we note several inconsistencies in the Judge’s arguments

By acknowledging that financial subsidies do allow otherwise uncompetitive sources of generation to be built, Judge Caproni is acknowledging that financial subsidies do distort market pricing because it increase supply into the market relative to demand, which by definition, ALWAYS NEGATIVELY affects pricing

Conclusion: Therefore, we continue to believe that as the case is appealed to higher judicial authority, we maintain that the most rational outcome is the reversal of both NY and IL subsidies for nuclear power. However,